Confidential British Foreign Office Political Correspondence, Palestine 1947-1948

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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76021/46A.
CONFIDENTIAL

(th March, 1947.

Dear Beith,

I saw from a Reuter message dated New York,
Tuesday, March llth, that our friend ex=-Congressman
Baldwin, Chairman of the Political Action Committee of
Palestine has made an appeal to the President to
lend-lease to the Committee a number of D.C. transp ort
‘planes for the purpose of repatriating Jews from the
U.S. zone of Europe to Palestine, The Committee's
advertisement in the U.S.Press states that the
operation will be divided into two categories:=

ewir tio ee ok

3914430 040938 dI79NMg 3H 40 LHOIYAdOS

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(a) 'Planes carrying women and children will be
directed to secret makeshift landing fields in

Palestine.

(b) 'Planes carrying able-bodied men will be foe : a 1 MO uy ae
unloaded by parachute. Eas Peat Ae RS SCE NURS SAGs oh 8 soe

N00 NO1

The Committee further undertakes to provide
experienced, technical personnel to pilot and service
these ‘planes. The advertisement points out that
one D.C.4. with 70 or more passengers is capable of Cae ey a a |
making 4 round trips a day from a certain airport in Be Ne Blas eco Se cares na ee ire ie ot ae
Hurope to Palestine. Bee PUR GNU "eh SET SESE eee ts | STN ke

AS you are aware there is already in existence an
American Volunteer Committee for -+khe Hebrew Sea and @ir

Repatriation and it looks as if this is the first
/extension

J. G. S. BEITH, ESQ.

Ph HS a eee yr ahah ce SEA fas ates ; Pris! paneer : : Mec nar . . .

«
vo at > 7 : . 7 : : a : : ‘ ‘ ; ; .

Sree eet FE ce seweeramerns oe RD a mec Tit ees rete ne

extension in their activities from the sea to

the air, We should be grateful for any further |
information about this new development, You will
recall that at the Defence Comnittee meeting on
Wednesday, my Secretary of State Suggested that -
it might be desirable to ask the Foreign Secretary
to approach Mr. Marshall ef Moscow with a view. to
checking the flow/financial {from the U.S. to the
illegal immigrant organisations in Europe.

Perhaps at the same time Mr. Bevin could direct
Mr, Marshall's attention to the above statement by

Baldwin and ask that precautions be taken to ensure
that any surplus American aircraft are not allowed to
pass into the hands of ambiguous organisations,

‘ ¥

elds

I am sending copies of this letter to Chadwick
Dodds and Low.:

3914490 G40934 Q178Ng 3HL 40 LH918Ad09

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CABIN. DISTRIBUTION

eer ee Ee:

WHO WAEENGTON TO FOsavIGN OFFICL

Lord inverchapel He LO.66 pem. 17th iia
| | kh, 5.45 a.m. 18th
i7th warch, 1947
Repeated to: Jerusalem
uuu UU

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Confidential 2 dae

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Wtwers ww wns ure, mbert

| Uver signature of Joseph Clark Town rolitical action
Committee for ralestine has inserted in certain newspapers
full pave advertisement saying tnat Committee and its
Congressional Advisory board headed by a number of prominent
members cf both uouses of Congress have culled on the
“resident to “Lend lease" to the Committee or any other
recognised agency, a number of u.u. 4 transport aircraft

for the sole purpose of repatriating Jews frow "American
Zone in surope" to ralestine. ‘xuxodus by air" has the
advertisement says already proved feasible. Committee
undertakes to provide experienced personnel to pilot

and look after these aircraft assuming all risks. Uperation

is Stated to be in two parts -

(9) aircraft carrying women and children will be directed
to secretly designated makeshift Landing fields in

ralestine.

Alrcraft carrying able bodied men will be unloaded by
parachute,

Une J.C. 4 with seventy ox more ee ers is said to be
Capable of making four round trips a day from "a certain
port in surope" to Palestine. Amount needed is given as
ten million dollars and subscriptions are asked for.

2. .€ have asked tate Department whether an
approach to the itresident has in fact been made and
what answer has been returned to it. In doing this we have
urged that no assistance should be given by the United
states Government to the Committee.

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15/118/47

Ambassador at Washington presents his

Majesty’s
y’s Principal Secretary of State for

¢ sa e e
cofupliments to His Majes
Foreign Affairs and has the honour to transmit to him the under-

os

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mentioned documents.

1,

British Embassy
Washington, D. C.

Se ed MALO 5 fataseoicy 147

i

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TIS

Reference to previous correspondence:

Letter to Eastern Department 15/10/47

of 24 January 1947. Piaf, _
Description of Enclosure. / .

ese

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Name and Date.

Advertisements of
Political Action
Committee for
Palestine.

Letter to Joseph
Clark Baldwin
2lst March 1947.

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British Embassy,
Washington, D.C.

2ist March 1947

PERSONAL

Dear

I have seen in recent editions of the
New York Post and P.M, advertisements inserted
by the Political Action Committee for Palestine
over your signature, soliciting funds amounting
to ten million dollars for the purpose of sending

illegal immigrants to Palestine by air under a

plan entitled "Exodus py Air". The advertisement

in the New_York Post said that the President was

being asked by the Committee and its Congressional

Advisory Board to. "lend-lease" D.C.4 aircraft for
the American

the transport of these immigrants from

Zone in Europe to Palestine; that four round trips

could be made each day from a certain port in

Europe; and that women and children would be

directed to secretly designated makeshift landing

fields in Palestine, whilst able-bodied men would

~9IUaLaSay

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The Honourable

Joseph Clark Baldwin,
Political Action Committee for Palestine,

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be unloaded by parachute,
tT ghould like to remind you that when we

met on January 17th I took up with you the question

of the advertisements issued by your Committee

during your absence in Palestine. You said that

you had had nothing to do with their publication,

that the views ascribed to you in them nad been

put together without your authority and that you

had repudiated them in a telegram from London. You

also said that you had forbidden the Political

Action Committee for Palestine to issue any more

advertisements.
You know that tne British Government has now

the Palestine question

391450 090938 Q178Ng BHI 40 LH914¥Ad09

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taken the decision to submi

to the United Na you will realise that

action such as that called for in these advertisements

an pave no other effect than to worsen immeasurably
It

Cc
a gituation that is already difficult enough.

can only be described as an attempt to force the

nand of the United Nations when they come to

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consider the problem, to create chaos in

Palestine and to endanger still more lives.

It is entirely irresponsible and should not
ee have been put forward by any organization which
SE BS ye en et : :

2 eee Re seriously desires to see a quick and just solution

will enable Palestine to

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move forward to a stable future.

I feel sure that these advertisements were

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repudiate them and wake it clear that you are in

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no way to be considered as having given them your

approval. I hope, too, that you will use your

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SAGES,

nat they do not appear again.

2

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320038 F.0.P

WASHINGTON 8, D. C.

efs
ON

Dear Department,

Under our P.L. despatch No.710 of 21st
March (15/118/47), we sent you a copy of a letter
which the Ambassador had sent to Joseph Clark
Baldwin of the Political Action Committee for
Palestine, concerning an advertisement inserted
in the newspapers by his Committee appealing for
funds for aircraft to take illegal immigrants to

Palestine.
We did not at the time send you a copy of

Baldwin's reply, but do so now, as he came in to
see Balfour a few days ago and referred to it
during their talk.

The main object of his visit, it emerged,
was to ask that any communication from the Embassy
be sent to him at his private address and not to
his office, since his Committee insisted on seeing
and approving all the letters he wrote, including
his reply to the Ambassador, which was in consequence,
he said, more vigorous than it might otherwise have

peen,.

4 ean aati cy

391440 040938 dI4198N¢ 3HL 40 LHD IYAdOD

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He took the line that but for his influence
the Committee would have taken more drastic action
by endeavouring to promote a boycott of British

Ee

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/goods

Eastern Department,
Foreign Office
London, S.W.1.

fee:

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goods and that the appeal for funds for the
aircraft amounted to very little. The Committee
itself had, he said, only $43,000 at its disposal
and was in no position, if it pursued its plans
(and he implied that it would not) to fit out
more than one or two small aircraft. When
challenged, he was unable to explain what the
Committee would have done if the appeal had met

with a considerable response.

He then said that he was trying to confine
the Committee's activities to propaganda and that
he was by no means anti-British. Balfour rubbed
in very strongly that the advertisements could only
worsen considerably an already difficult situation.

Baldwin could only reply that other pro-Zionist

organizations produced far more advertisements than
his. We hope he was left with the clear impression
that his attempt to run with the hare and hunt with

the hounds was unlikely to lessen our objections
to his activities.

Yours ever,

CHANCERY

ed

y Gas
By

aw
Pet eneea LF 53

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Sieg aie
AKA eS

JOSEPH CLARK BALDWIN
62 East 78th St.
New York 21, N.Y.
March 24th 1947

To His Excellency
Lord Inverchapel,
British Ambassador,
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. Ambassador,

Your letter of March 2lst has just reached me, and
I hasten to reply. The advertisements of which you complain
were not published over my signature, but contained my name
as the Administrative Chairman of the responsible organization.
In that capacity I authorized their release after a directive
vote of a majority of the committee. Actually the decision
was a compromise to avoid an action which I felt might have
far worse repercussions as regards good Anglo-American
relations, the maintenance of which, believe me, I still
consider of paramount importance. For some months now I have
successfully fought a Jewish boyeott of English goods, nor
was it the Political Action Committee of Palestine alone
which was involved. Powerful Jewish groups both here and
abroad were clamoring for such a step! I think you are quite
as aware as I am of the strength of the Jews in commercial
and banking fields, particularly as merchants.

ae gh ed Fe NR de: Coa oN er or ah

Sao Le tence
‘

oe Geant

PATI SENS t

Tien)

er

As to the previous advertisements which you mention,
all of which directly and bitterly attacked Great Britain,
although the only one I publicly repudiated was that which
brought in the King and Queen and the British Crown, I think
you will agree that I kept my word and that no such further
publicity has appeared sponsored by my committee.

SPORE ATT F BEN Oe remem

1 Fd ee es ee eT
OES ORE:

hes.

am:

You must remember that on the Palestine question we
are dealing with a warrantably desperate people. My only
desire is to make a constructive contribution to the solution
thereof. In the overall picture I am convinced I am doing
just that. Frankly I'm at a loss to understand the British
Government's policy on the question, and I am convinced that
a majority of the American people don't understand it, and
that certainly the American Government doesn't. Nor do they

approve.

For your information I might add that the "truce"
recently proclaimed by the Irgun is to the best of my know-
ledge a bona fide one. This was undoubtedly done in the hope
that the British Government will play fair. While I am not
in direct contact with any of these people there are plenty
of Jews in New York who are, and it is only natural that
from time to time they should search me out. So far as I
know one of the reasons for this promised period of calm

was my own public and private plea that violence in Palestine

should cease.

RST:

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Fret inc BERS ERIE Bie NC. Teint seb fH

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i ce Pen

Probably Winston Churchill summed up the current
situation when he said in a recent speech in Parliament that
the present British Government's policy in Palestine was
covering the Empire with "blood and shame". As an Anglophile

I would say no more, and could say no less.

The Balfour Declaration, followed by the Anglo-

/American

American Convention of 1924, which was approved by the
U.S. Congress, made certain commitments. I fail to see UA tec a, ees | - s
how we can honorably avoid them. Certainly the present ae | Be he A teed Same Bl
homeless Jews in Europe have a right to the home promised | ce ee : AG an net BME
them therein, Be . o : cae aoe seers? Pe ae
I trust this gives you my positiobm and my point a a ek a ee ; |
of view. Should you want to discuss either of them further ae came eS es ee |
by mail or by conference you can reach me here in the first Bae en ee ee |
instance and in the second will find me at Aunt Daisy's in | en ee
Washington for a few days in the not distant future.
Yours sincerely, 7 oa
(Signed) JOSEPH CLARK BALDWIN oe ee OES oe

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Wt 24772/717 1785 10/38 FO.

bpiyeege tte
aces £3

Ambassador at Washington presents
compliments to His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for "i le SEE ON Sas Ca eens ag eas
Foreign Affairs and has the honour to transmit to him the under- ree ee he EES AI

aS

Cats

Se

British Embassy
Washington, D. C

hs int

3rd July 194.7.

Reference to previous correspondence:

ne -
:
«
Description of Enclosure. &
: Name and Date. Subject. 7
Copy of advertisement Smuggling of
in New York Sun, immigrants into
24th June 1947 Palestine,

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eta pare

Ue EES

muggling of D. P.’s by Air
Into Palestine Told by Rabb

Official of Political Action Committee Here
Says Planes Drop Emigrants by ’Chute
to Waiting

PT-boats.

Rogen a BY .CHARLES WYER, . __ re :
' Stackéd ina corner of one of the rooms of the second-
ifloor headquarters of the Political Action Committee for
Palestine at the Hotel Walton, 104 West 70th street, are

about a dozen parachutes. |

When asked whether it was}
true that the committee was fly-
ing displaced Jews of Europe into
Palestine, Rabbi Baruch Korff,
founder of the committee and a
member of its board, pointed ta
the parachutes.
“They are not souvenirs,” he’
said.

Dr. Korff said that the commit-
tee had been in existence for near-
ly two years and that he hoped it
would be extremely temporary,
since it will have no further ex-!
cuse for being once the displaced
Jews have been placed where, in
his opinion, they belong—Pales-
tine. He said that the transporta-
ition of Jews to Palestine was pro-
gressing slowly but surely and
he predicted that “before Octo:
ber the greatest exodus since
Pharaoh will be under way.”

Dr. Korff, a short, stocky man
of 32, who lives with his wife and
two small children at the Essex
House, is a deadly serious young
man.

Asked about the parachutes, he
said it was not the practice to
drop displaced Jews directly into
Palestine, but rather to drop them
in Middle East waterways, where
PT-boats could pick them up and
under cover of darkness smuggle.
them into Palestine.

“Those boats are very fast and:
they don’t make much noise,” he
said, in almost a whisper.

Asked where the money came
from to finance this project, Dr.
Korff said that it came from
voluntary contributions which
poured into the P. A. C. from all
over the country.

In some cases, he said, planes,
preferably flying boats, have
been given by their owners or by
groups which purchased them.
Many of these planes are second-
hand. As for the pilots, with the

er eo ee ee eee -_

D. P'S ARE SMUGGLED
INTO PALESTINE BY AIR

Continued from Page lL.

exception of two or three, they
are former American Army and
Navy flyers, who volunteer their
services, some for pay and some
gratis.

One pilot who would be flying
displaced Jews into Palestine this
‘very day, but for the accident
which killed him nearly a month
ago, he said, was William E.
Coney, the 40-year-old Eastern
Airlines pilot, who was killed
with his crew and fifty passen-
gers when a DC-4 four-engine
|plane crashed into a forest near

Port Deposit, Md., on Decoration
Day.

Flying Boat Experience Needed.

’ Coney, according to Dr. Korff,
intended to take a six weeks
leave of absence from Eastern
Airlines on the completion of the
ifatal flight and take a hand in
the P. A. C. flying expeditions in
Europe.

“Who was going to pay him?”
Dr. Korff was asked.

“Well,” he replied, “Mr. Coney
was to receive his compensation
in Europe.”

“How much?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea.”

Coney was one of the country’s
most experienced flyers and dur-
ing the war was commander of
the Navy’s famous Mars flying
boat. That experience was espe.
cially valuable for P. A. C. pur-
poses because few land planes
are used in the P. A. C. work.
For that reason, Dr. Korff said,
many former Army flyers were
not accepted because they were
familiar only with land planes.

A spokesman for Eastern Air-
lines said that he could not say
what Coney’s plans were, but

:ithat as of the date of his death

NEW YORK SUN
June 24tn, 1947

he had not made application for
a leave of absence.

Dr. Korff pointed out that the
transportation of displaced Jews
into Palestine by plane or boat
was a risky business and re
minded the reporter that Iess
than two weeks ago a plane car-
rying ten Rumanian Jews was
forced down in Turkey.

Not All Flyers Jewish.

Men secking flying jobs with!
the P. A. C., he said, must pass’
rigid security tests and they have:
to pass the scrutiny of a former}
FBI agent and a secret panel of|
three men. |

Asked whether all the flyers
were Jews, he said that far from
it, they represented all races.

“We've had a few Irishmen
and one is a Britisher who said
he wanted to atone for the sins|
of his Government against the!
Jews,” Dr. Korff said.

Dr. Korff said that the commit-|
tee was organized in Washington |
but had had its headquarters
here for the last fifteen months.
He said that he himself was the!
United Nations observer for the;
group, that he serves without pay|
and enjoys only that income!
which he receives from the New
York rabbinate. The committce
has 35,000 members, but the right
to dictate policies rests strictly
with the board of directors. Of
the latter, Joseph Clark Baldwin,
former Republican Representative
from the Seventeenth Congress-
ional district of New York, is the
administrative chairman. Bald-
win devotes his entire time to the
organization and after a tour of}
Europe last year submitted al
lengthy report to President Tru-|
man. Baldwin said he was not}
familiar with the flying of dis-
placed Jews into Palestine; that!
he devoted his attention to the
political aspects of the job.

“Our Government could settle
it tomorrow,” he told The New
York Sun.

“Why doesn’t it?” he was asked.

“That I don’t know,” he replied.

P a - eT

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WASHINGTON 8, D. C.
August 25th, 1947.

Ref. 1323/34/47.

Dear Department,

The New York Herald Tribune of August 18th
reported that Rabbi Baruch Korff., co-chairman of the
Political Action Committee for Palestine, announced
on August 17th that his committee had received pledges
for $10,000,000 to put into effect its plan for
parachuting Jews into Palestine. This money, according
to Rabbi Korff, would be available in October if the
United Nations! Special Committee did not recommend the
immediate immigration of 100,000 or more Jews into
Palestine. He refused to name the organisations which
had pledged the funds, but said that the names of some
of them would be released in October if it proved
necessary to attempt his plan. (You will remember that
Joseph Clark Baldwin told Balfour some months ago that
this committee had only some $43,000 in its possession
and was therefore not in a position to implement their

plan of "Exodus by Air"™.)

Rabbi Korff is on his way to Paris and he said
that he planned to be in Europe for about three weeks,
during which time he would confer with members of the
United Nations! Committee in Switzerland and also with
Palestine underground leaders. He applied a few days
ago to the Pasport Control Office in New York for a
transit visa for England and a visa for Palestine, both
of which were refused. He then endeavoured to get the
Embassy to intervene, but got no change out of us. The
Passport Control Office has sent a warning about him to

London, Paris, Geneva and Jeruselen,.

NOO NOT

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We are sending a copy of this letter to Jerusalen.

Yours ever,

Hastern Department
Foreign Office, CHANCERY,

London, S.Wele

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WASHINGTON 8, D. C. ae [ me 8 |
August 26th, 1947.

Dear Department,

Would you please refer to our letter
(133/34/47) of August 25th, about the Base | BEN Cas Sn eer ame a SNES
Political Action Committee for Palestine's coe Ga CE ee ae | ;
plan for parachuting Jews into Palestine: ae os ee. Eybeae eee .

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The Palcor News Agency of the same date
contained reports that Mr. Feinberg, President
of Americans for Haganah, has branded Rabbi
Korff's announcement as a "circus stunt". He
accused Rabbi Korff of attempting to "ride the
wave of headlines" about the Exodus refugees,
thus capitalising shamefully on human misery.
Mir. Feinberg added that responsible representa-
tives in Palestine, including Haganah, had
unequivocally stated that such a stunt was
impossible. They had also denied that Rabbi [ 3 OR a on a ea
Korff or anyone else had ever succeeded in eeL.. eR oe ee -
parachuting a single Jew into the Holy Land. ee Ra ee eSNG |
If it had been possible Haganah would have done : Puy) eine ee ee at a ee:
it. Mr. Feinberg concluded his attack by saying
that Rabbi Korff had been collecting funds from
gullible people for about a year, and by
challenging him to show that any Jews had reached
Palestine by land, sea or air through his efforts.

> ina,
RELA eats:

Yours ever,

CHANCERY.

Basvern Department,
Foreign Office,
London, S.W.1.

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